Time-Shifted Viewing Ups Ratings, Viewers For Broadcast Shows

For the
entire 2013-2014 season, looking at an episode's initial premiere and seven days of time-shifted viewing, CBS' "Big Bang Theory” scored the highest ratings for an ongoing non-sport series.

The big comedy show pulled in a 7.5 Nielsen program rating among 18-49 viewers through seven days. This was 50% higher than the live-plus-same-day number -- adding on a 2.5 rating to the 5.0
rating it averaged during the course of the season.

Time-shifting data through seven days continues to grow -- with the top 10 TV network shows averaging 60% growth for 18-49 viewers from
time-shifting after an episode of a show’s initial air date.

Of those top shows, CBS’ “Elementary” grew a top 82% after its initial air date -- adding 1.4 rating
points to its premiere 1.7 number, totaling a 3.1 cumulative live program plus seven days of time-shifted viewing.

In terms of all viewers, the time-shifting lift was lower than the growth
of 18-49 viewers -- averaging 43% to 60%. The top show that gained from time-shifting was NBC’s “The Blacklist” -- pulling in 6.1 million total viewers to add to its 10.7 million
initial episode airing total, for a 57% gain.

CBS’ “Big Bang Theory” was second in terms of the overall viewing increase through seven days of time shifting -- 5.5
million, totaling 23.1 million overall viewing after seven days, a 32% rise from its live plus same day program ratings.

Looking at just the percentage gain of time-shifted viewing,
Fox’s “Raising Hope” completed its series run, growing 83% during the season -- the best number for any TV network show. CBS’ “Elementary” was next at 82%, while
NBC’s canceled “Dracula” was at 80%.

It's well to remember that time shifting is a major factor only for a few TV shows----mostly primetime broadcast network and some cable shows, an occasional special and sports feature, etc. The vast majority of the typical adult's TV consumption is, and will, remain, "live" because the vast majority of the time spent with TV is devoted to other dayparts and less engaging fare. For example, approximately 25% of an average person's TV diet consists of primetime programming, including the broadcast networks, cable, PBS and other sources. Of this, the broadcast networks account for something like 10-12% of the viewer's total TV consumption. While a lot of time shifting occurs in this particular venue, it is not typical of the way we approach TV in its totality. Most of the shows we encounter or know about aren't worth delaying for later exposure.